D&D 1e Box Set was my first introduction to RPGs, but never really got to play it due to lack of willing/aware friends. Later on in high school though a friend introduced me to the Traveler RPG system and a small group of us had a campaign that ran over the course of two or three years. That was fun times.

For those who mentioned also going through the Lone Wolf books, the book creator(s?) have renounced the rights to a fair amount of the material, making a number of the books available online. You can find much of the info here: https://www.projectaon.org

Attached with that, at least on Android, they made an app that uses the aforementioned materials to make the books playable (keeping track of the action sheet even between books), which can be found under the name "Kai Chronicles". Hopefully others will be as happy about the find as I was

I started with the Moldvay Red Box, which I got for my 10th birthday in 1981.

Absolutely awesome.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Valsai

For those who mentioned also going through the Lone Wolf books, the book creator(s?) have renounced the rights to a fair amount of the material, making a number of the books available online. You can find much of the info here: https://www.projectaon.org

Attached with that, at least on Android, they made an app that uses the aforementioned materials to make the books playable (keeping track of the action sheet even between books), which can be found under the name "Kai Chronicles". Hopefully others will be as happy about the find as I was

Palladium RPG the original with the overpowered healer class? you mean the first (black with pictures in red on the cover) edition, or the second (dark blue with a picture of a green dragon and an elven wizard looking into a crystal ball on the cover)? IIRC, the second edition healer is indeed pretty overpowered, within its limits, but I don't remember a healer in first ed, and my book is buried too deep in the basement for me to go fetch it.

Original was an all black book with dragon done in red on it. Then they reprinted it with an great horned dragon fighting an knight riding an pegasus on it, with the original fron cover done on the back of the reprint. So one with dragon and wizard must be 3rd print?. It must be. I've never even seen that one before and I've been playing palladium since I was in elementary school. The all black one is the one with the healer with up to 10th level spells ( I know wizards and all them had 10th levels as well) But the healers spells were out to lunch. It was because of that class they had to reprint it. Too many complaints from gamers and especially gamemasters because of that class.

I was also introduced to the world of RPGs through gamebooks. After that I played a few half-sessions in high school using some old photocopied version of AD&D 2ed, mostly making it up as we went. Sometimes we tried some rules from 3rd ed or 3.5, ending up with frankestein's monster of a system who nobody knew how to play.
The first system I really learned and played following the rules was Mutants & Masterminds 2ed, several years later.